2015-03-29T04:51:46ZBusiness Processes Capability and Performance: A South African Perspectivehttp://hdl.handle.net/10500/6205
Business Processes Capability and Performance: A South African Perspective
Vermeulen, Andre; Pretorius, Jan-Harm C; Kruger, David
Successful organisations depend on leadership,
process optimisation, and utilisation of resources. Optimisation
is achievable through well-defined systems and supporting
processes that guide organisations towards excellence.
Organisations need to understand operational and individual
business processes as well as the strategic impact on the supply
network. Effective optimisation impacts strategically on quality
cost, revenue, investment, and capabilities. Business Process
Capability measurements forces organisational leaders,
managers and employees to critically analyse existing business
processes, and determine gaps identifying existing performances
and sub-optimal states. Many organizations in South Africa
misunderstand business process capability and measure success
on revenue and profits generated hiding inefficiencies that could
be concealed by the profits. One of the contributing factors
might be that some companies in South Africa lack international
competitiveness, do not optimize their business processes nor
align business processes and available resources to adhere to
organizational goals and calls for radical redesign of business
processes resulting from end-to-end fulfilling internal and
external customer needs. The paper will show why organisations
should base their competitiveness on a value chain and end - to -
end business processes optimisation rather than only profit.
2012-01-01T00:00:00ZAPPLICATION OF LEAN PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT AT A MANUFACTURING ORGANISATION: A CASE STUDYhttp://hdl.handle.net/10500/6204
APPLICATION OF LEAN PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT AT A MANUFACTURING ORGANISATION: A CASE STUDY
Dem, A C; Pretorius, J H C; Kruger, D J
The principles of lean were understood to be relevant to the operations of manufacturing
enterprises meaning processes associated with material supply, component production and
delivery of products and services to the customer. It was identified there was growing
awareness that lean principles could be transferred readily to other functions and sectors.
The purpose of the study was to investigate the application of lean principles to knowledgebased
activities such as engineering design and product development. The organization
under study was Olifant Manufacturing Company (OMC), a division of British Aerospace
Systems, Land Systems South Africa. The problem statement was formulated as: “Would the
researched Lean principles enable OMC to improve its traditional Product Development (PD)
to Lean Product Development (LPD)?” The Life Cycle Management (LCM) framework was the
mandated organizational framework that guided the execution of projects at BAE Systems. It
would be sought to identify the relevant framework that would be tailored within the
overarching framework to enable process improvements. The main findings were lean
transformation is an organizational journey that would begin with a top down philosophy.
Aspects of LPD were found to be integrated into a system framework that integrated the
transformation of people, processes and tools and technologies.
2012-07-15T00:00:00ZImplementing Cellular Manufacturing in a Make-to-order Manufacturing System: A South African Case Studyhttp://hdl.handle.net/10500/6203
Implementing Cellular Manufacturing in a Make-to-order Manufacturing System: A South African Case Study
Kruger, David
Make-to-order was formerly the single most
utilised approach to produce high variety, low volume products.
The result was that only the affluent buyer could afford the
products. Mass production played a part in the accessibility to
products but contributed to the loss of uniqueness of the
products. With the introduction of mass customization
uniqueness and accessibility were addressed. South African
manufacturers are facing growing international competition
from low labour cost countries. Lean manufacturing is seen as
an instrument to increase competitiveness through continuous
improvement. According to numerous research papers less than
0, 5% of an organisation’s process operations are value adding.
The majority of operations could be classified as waste. The
paper addresses smaller production lot sizes and pioneering
manufacturing approaches to increase competitiveness. The
paper studies the design of a lean manufacturing approach in a
make-to-order production system subjected to a considerable
range of product types and with high-level of demand
uncertainty. A production system utilising cellular
manufacturing and line balancing were developed. Cellular
manufacturing with a supermarket of parts is well suited for
application in make to order manufacturing systems. A number
of the seven wastes identified will be addressed.
2012-07-30T00:00:00ZTHE EFFECT OF TIME VARIATIONS IN ASSEMBLY LINE BALANCING: LESSONS LEARNED IN THE CLOTHING INDUSTRY IN SOUTH AFRICAhttp://hdl.handle.net/10500/5669
THE EFFECT OF TIME VARIATIONS IN ASSEMBLY LINE BALANCING: LESSONS LEARNED IN THE CLOTHING INDUSTRY IN SOUTH AFRICA
Ramdass, K.; Kruger, D.
South African clothing sector has undergone large-‐scale restructuring over the past 15 years.
The global economy is pressurizing organisations to improve productivity of their business
processes. Competition is forcing organisations to focus their energy on “core competencies.”
Like many industries, the clothing industry is witnessing changes in technology,
diversification of labour, managerial implications while competing on the global market. The
South African clothing and textile industries have the potential to create jobs, but this
potential has been steadily diminishing over the last decade. In this context, the clothing
industry is regarded as a powerful engine for economic and employment growth.
Nevertheless, the performance of the clothing industry, whether in terms of efficiency,
working conditions or degree of social protection, is unstable. This paper aims to highlight
some of the problems experienced by manufacturers’ through a semi-‐structured
questionnaire and provide suggestions for improvement of the clothing industry through the
application of line balancing as a means of productivity improvement. The research
methodology employed in this paper is qualitative and exploratory in nature making use of
applicable literature and appropriate case studies
2010-10-06T00:00:00Z